BY Neal Broverman

May 03 2013 2:57 PM ET

After the veteran NBA center came out, becoming the first active male professional athlete to do so, Shapiro tweeted, "So Jason Collins is a hero because he's gay? Our standard for heroism has dropped quite a bit since Normandy?"

On Morgan's show, the host called the tweet a cheap shot and Shapiro replied, "Why do you hate America so much that you think this is such a homophobic country that when Jason Collins comes out it is the biggest deal in the history of humanity?" Shapiro insisted this country was not homophobic in the least and said that publicly being gay, like Collins, British, like Morgan, or Jewish, like Shapiro, is not brave, it's being who you are.

"Come off it," Morgan said. "Give the guy a break. He's the first one to come out. He's a brave guy. I applaud him. To have your first thought to get on Twitter and sneer him, it's cheap." Morgan then cut Shapiro off and ended the segment. Watch it below.